The Spectacle Blog

It isn't easy being Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders is drawing big crowds. Pantsuits weren't a staple on the Paris Fashion Week runways. Disgusting commoners want to touch you, and people want to know things about your email and Benghazi and all these things they were supposed to forget about once they were dazzled by Hillary Clinton's wisdom and beauty.

And there's only so much pandering you can do to target demographics. Keeping women, minorities, youth and small leftist special interest groups in line is only helpful if you have the majority of the Democratic base locked down, and its increasingly apparent that she doesn't. As Bernie Sanders rants away, Hillary's numbers are slipping, and her connection with the progressives that put Obama over the top only to see him govern as (mostly) a moderate, is tenuous at best. So what's a girl to do?

Over the weekend, Ted Cruz got a rude response from the New York Times when, despite blockbuster sales for his book, A Time for Truth, the New York Times refused to put it on their weekly list of best-sellers because they were convinced - convinced, I tell you - that Ted Cruz had been instructing his campaign to buy the book in bulk in order to pad his numbers. Cruz's book, by all accounts, sold around 11,000 copies, which should have put him third on the list, behind a book about the Wright Brothers and a book written by a former Playboy bunny and reality television star.

So, it's not that I don't like Scott Walker. I do. I like him even more because the very mention of his name makes liberal toes curl. He's defeated the worst of the progressive worst not once, but three times in four years, and he plans on making his vision for Wisconsin, which won over voters despite dramatic sit-ins, protests and threats to bring hippie drum circles to every school district in the state, his vision for America. His brand new campaign video says it all.

But as serious conservative contenders for the highest office abound, Scott Walker isn't necessarily among them.

We have reached the halfway point of the 2015 MLB season as the All-Stars convene tomorrow night in Cincinnati. Here is a summary of what has occurred so far.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AL East At the beginning of July, one game separated the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays for first place. Less than a fortnight later, the Yankees have grabbed the reins of the AL East by winning 7 out of 10 games this month while the O’s, Rays & Jays have struggled in July, with Baltimore going 3-8 and Tampa Bay & Toronto going 4-8. The Yankees now have a 3 ½ game lead over the Rays. Still, the Rays, O’s & Jays aren’t out of the running by a long shot. Nor are the Boston Red Sox who have gone 6-4 in July and have a 15-9 record since June 16th and are only 6 ½ games out of first place.

I would like to tell you about a serious condition afflicting thousands of policy analysts. It’s called Petty Little Dictator Disorder, or PLDD, and you or someone you love could be suffering from this epidemic sweeping through our think tanks, advocacy groups, and government offices. According to the description pending for inclusion in the DSM V, here are the warning signs of PLDD:

TAMPA — The local chapter of the upscale Sierra Club is taking the national Sierra’s crusade to get the peasants to take the bus very seriously. (My observation has been that the decades-long push for mass transportation has been a campaign on the part of one group of people to force another group of people to take the bus, while members of the privileged first group continue to drive their cars.)

In a policy paper released last week, the Tampa Bay Sierra Club called on the Hillsborough County (Tampa) Board of County Commissioners to levy a five cents per gallon gasoline tax on county residents. This to go on top of already heavy taxes on gasoline.

Monday is Scott Walker’s turn to join the crowded presidential field. Walker has served as Wisconsin’s Governor since 2011. He rose to prominence quickly after the State Capitol in Madison was overtaken by protesters opposing his labor reforms. Walker has passed a number of government-limiting measures, earning a “B” on Cato’s Governor Report Card in both 2012 and 2014, but he continues to support higher spending.

Update: Approximately 20 minutes ago, OPM director Kathleen Archuleta finally submitted her resignation. Lower-level employees in charge of tech still remain. Her deputy will take over.

*****

If you weren't certain, before, whether your personal information had been compromised in the series of Chinese hacks that hit the Office of Personnel Management earlier this year, well, let me set your mind at ease. You probably were.

The American Spectator Foundation is the 501(c)(3) organization responsible for publishing The American Spectator magazine and training aspiring journalists who espouse traditional American values. Your contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Each donor receives a year-end summary of their giving for tax purposes.